The Sun Bowl is almost upon us and that means the Louisville Cardinals and Washington Huskies are about to meet in El Paso. Jedd Fisch and Washington enter into this matchup looking to beat Jeff Brohm and the Cardinals en route to securing a winning season in year one of the Firsch era on Montlake.
This is, of course, the first ever meeting for these two teams (who are from essentially opposite sides of the country, by the way). And because they’ve never played before (and not everyone is super familiar with both of these teams), let’s do a quick rundown of some fast facts that you need to know ahead of the matchup.
So, without further ado, let’s brush up on the Washington Huskies and Louisville Cardinals.
2024 Sun Bowl preview: Get to know the Washington Huskies and Louisville Cardinals
Let’s start with Washington. This is a UW blog, of course.
- Washington Huskies
- Head Coach: Jedd Fisch (6-6 in first season at Washington)
- Home Stadium: Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium (Seattle, WA)
- 2024 Record: 6-6 overall
- Conference: 4-5 in Big Ten
All in all, it hasn’t been a bad first season in Seattle for Fisch and the Huskies. This is a rebuilding project following the way that Kalen DeBoer left UW for Alabama and a lot of things have changed over the past 12 months. So, not bad.
Here’s a few numbers to keep an eye on:
- Key Offensive Stats:
- 383.7 yards per game (252.3 passing, 131.3 rushing)
- 22.5 points per game
The offense could be better, but it could also be worse. It’s worth remembering that Will Rogers wasn’t familiar with this system and actually didn’t sign up to play in it. He transferred away from Mississippi State to play for DeBoer after spending essentially the entirety of his career in the Air Raid offense.
Now, with the bowl game upon us, Demond Williams is set to be the starting quarterback and that will change how this system looks and is operated.
- Key Defensive Stats:
- 324.8 yards allowed per game
- 22.8 points allowed per game
- 20 sacks, 8 interceptions
The defense has been solid. It wasn’t perfect, but Steve Belichick did a pretty good job this past season. So, kudos to the future North Carolina Tar Heels defensive coordinator, I suppose.
On to the Louisville Cardinals.
- Louisville Cardinals
- Head Coach: Jeff Brohm (18-8 in second season at Louisville)
- Home Stadium: L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium (Louisville, KY)
- 2024 Record: 8-4 overall
- Conference: 5-3 in ACC
His second season wasn’t as strong as his first was, but Jeff Brohm really has Louisville moving in the right direction right now. He’s got a strong offensive identity built that will attract a lot of fun talent to his program over the next few years. It’ll be fun to see what he can build there.
- Key Offensive Stats:
- 455.8 yards per game (272.4 passing, 183.3 rushing)
- 36.6 points per game
Like I said, the Louisville Cardinals offense was a lot of fun to watch this past season.
- Key Defensive Stats:
- 360.1 yards allowed per game
- 23.3 points allowed per game
- 29 sacks, 9 interceptions
And the defense really wasn’t something to ignore.
It’ll be fascinating to see how these two teams stack up in the Sun Bowl. Theoretically speaking, Washington could make things pretty challenging for the Cardinals given that there’s not a ton of film on Williams as the quarterback and he’s the sort of athlete that Fisch really wants operating his offense.